Kremlin Propaganda Claims that Zelenskyy has a Doppelganger

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On February 25-26th, 2023, photos depicting the meeting of the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the President of the US, Joe Biden, in Kyiv went viral on social networks and media. Russian propaganda outlets (Известия, lenta.ru, ria.ru, aif.ru, topnews.ru, riafan.ru, fedprss.ru) and individual Facebook accounts (1, 2) wrote that the president of Ukraine has a double, which was spotted in the story spread by the Polish publication, Fakt. Notably, one of the first people who wrote about Zelenskyy’s doppelganger was the Russian propagandist, Vladimir Solovyov. According to Solovyov, the “double” always walks with Zelensky and sometimes even attends meetings instead of him.

The same information was published by Georgian-language Facebook users. Blogger Beka Vardosanidze wrote that the president of Ukraine has a double, who has the same clothes and hairstyle as Zelenskyy himself, which is confirmed by the photos he published. Similar information was published by other Facebook users (1, 2, 3). In the published posts, it is also mentioned that Zelenskyy’s double accidentally “sneaked into the frame.”

The information disseminated on social networks about the existence of Zelenskyy’s doppelganger is false and is used to amplify the propaganda campaign pursued by the Kremlin. The published footage shows Maksym Donets, Zelenskyy’s bodyguard, who always accompanies the President of Ukraine and has been in the lens of international photographers many times. 

The footage, which is circulating on social networks and allegedly shows Zelensky’s double, is cut from the story of the Polish publication Fakt. The story on February 20th, 2023, is dedicated to the visit of the US President to Kyiv. In addition to Zelenskyy and Biden, 5 other people can be seen in the footage, including the person who is argued to confirm the existence of Zelensky’s double.

In fact, the person in question is a member of Zelenskyy’s bodyguard, Maksym Donets, who was appointed as the head of the security service in 2019 in the first week of Zelensky’s presidency. Donetsis always close to the president and visits Ukrainian cities with him.

Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters

The post by Beka Vardosanidze also claimed that “the double” wears the same clothes as Zelenskyy. Actually, Donets is wearing a military uniform, while Zelensky is wearing grey pants, which is confirmed by the video footage taken on the same day. In addition, Donets does not look like Zelenskyy.

The fact that Donets always accompanies Zelenskyy is also confirmed by the footage released during the visit of world leaders to Kyiv. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was one of the first politicians to visit Kyiv since the start of the war in April 2022 to “show solidarity with the Ukrainian people”. In the footage circulated in the media, Donets can be seen with Zelensky and Johnson.

Photo: Reuters

In June 2022, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi arrived in Kyiv to support Ukraine. Maskym Donets, a member of Zelensky’s bodyguard, can also be seen in the footage of this meeting.

Photo: Getty Images

On November 11th, 2022, the military and police of the Armed Forces of Ukraine entered Kherson and its surroundings. Zelensky arrived in liberated Kherson on November 14th, accompanied by his bodyguard.

Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters

The Ukrainian publication Unian also wrote about the false information disseminated by Solovyov. The publication notes that Donets accompanies Zelensky everywhere, and he and Zelensky have no common features in terms of appearance.

 

On February 20th, 2023, US President Joe Biden arrived in the capital of Ukraine. Biden, together with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, walked the streets of Kyiv and promised additional help to Ukraine. It should be noted that during the visit of the US President, a number of visual manipulations about Biden were disseminated on social media. Read more about this in the “Myth Detector” material:

About the Sources

After the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic, Beka Vardosanidze has been intensively spreading fake information about vaccines, the pandemic and the virus on social networks. He engaged in deliberate discrediting and bullying of doctors, journalists and the non-governmental sector connected with the vaccination process almost every day through Facebook. Vardosanidze is also one of the participants and reporters of the July 5 events. It should be noted that in 2017, Vardosanidze was a member of the “Georgian March” initiative group and was also under investigation for his participation in the dialogue threatening Tatia Dolidze with gang rape. The false information disseminated by Beka Vardosanidze has been fact-checked by “Myth Detector” many times in the past.

Facebook account Gurami Xafava justifies Russian military intervention in Ukraine. He has disseminated and amplified false and conspiratorial information on various topics in the past. In the summer of 2022, the Facebook account Gurami Xafava wrote that Georgian women fighting in Ukraine were captured and held hostage.

Disinformation disseminated by the Facebook account Davit Jebashvili, including visual manipulations designed to discredit Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has been verified by “Myth Detector” in the past as well.


The article has been written in the framework of Facebook’s fact-checking program. You can read more about the restrictions that Facebook may impose based on this article via this link. You can find information about appealing or editing our assessment via this link.

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Topic: Politics
Country: Ukraine
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